DETROIT – When it comes to “flushable wipes,” John McKeever knows all the reasons why they really shouldn’t be flushed.

“It’s a cotton product so it gets snagged and you have a lasagna thing going on, one thing will grab another, another, another – next thing you know you’re backed up,” said the Roto-Rooter plumber.

He’s been called many times to rescue homeowners and businesses from expensive backups. “I think its kind of grimy, I do,” and he’s not talking about the cleanup.

McKeever is referring to the messaging on products that suggest bathroom wipes are in fact flushable. “A $5 product turned into a tens of thousands of dollar fix for these guys,” he said of one of his toughest jobs at a doctor’s office.

Michigan lawmakers are hoping to change that. In May, they voted to target the language on bathroom wipe products that claim to be flushable. Manufacturers are no longer allowed to market the wipes as such in Michigan and are required to include the words “Do Not Flush” and a symbol dissuading people from doing so.

Sam Smalley, Deputy Director of Detroit’s Water and Sewerage Department is hoping that change makes a difference in the habits of Michigan residents. Flushable wipes have become such a problem, the city is running a PSA to get residents to stop.

“They’re taking up capacity in our system that’s critically important for resiliency and flood risk mitigation,” said Smalley. In Detroit alone, there are 2,400 miles of sewer main and crews clean 500-600 miles each year. Smalley says flushable wipes are a large part of what they’re cleaning out of the system.

He showed Local 4 a high-resolution image inside of one sewer that showed flushable wipes, and other items collected in the clog blocking about 25% of the pipe. The wipes cause problems at treatment facilities too, clogging up pumps and other equipment used there.

Smalley hopes the message will be clear: “Please don’t flush these things down the system.”

Jim Harbaugh coached a successful tenure with Michigan from 2015-2023 before heading back to the NFL. While Harbaugh is now with the Los Angeles Chargers, Wolverine fans will always remember what Harbaugh did for Michigan and what he did to bring the Wolverines back to a perennial power.

Going back to 2015, another position that always had studs was at corner. Michigan has had so many great corners under Jim Harbaugh that it was quite difficult only ranking five, but that’s the task I was set out to do.

Career stats: 133 tackles, 8.5 TFLs, one sack, six interceptions, one touchdown, 39 pass deflections, and one forced fumble

Jourdan Lewis isn’t only the best cornerback under Jim Harbaugh, but he’s one of the best to play the position in Ann Arbor. His stats and accolades all speak for itself. Lewis was a two-time All-American, a two-time All-Big Ten honoree, and he was the Big Ten Defensive Back of the Year in 2016.

Lewis was a true Michigan man after he chose to come back his senior season when he could’ve left for the NFL Draft after a great junior season. He was able to do things others couldn’t — like his interception to beat Wisconsin.

Career stats: 108 tackles, 10.5 TFLs, three sacks, seven interceptions, two touchdowns, 13 pass deflections, and two forced fumbles

Mike Sainristil was a five-year Michigan man, but he only played corner for two seasons. He started his career at wide receiver before Jim Harbaugh moved him over to nickel. If you just tuned into Michigan football in 2022, you would’ve believed Sainristil was a lifelong corner.

In his two years as a corner, Sainristil was a two-time All-Big Ten selection, an All-American in 2023, and finished his career tied for the single-season (2023) and career lead in interceptions returned for a touchdown (2).

Career stats: 54 tackles, three TFLs, seven interceptions, one touchdown, and seven pass deflections

Will Johnson is bound to move up this list by next year if his junior season is anything like his first two. In his two seasons at Michigan, Johnson has started 16 games, shared Defensive Freshman of the Year, was an All-Big Ten selection, and was an All-American last year.

Johnson shut down both Marvin Harrison Jr. and Rome Odunze in 2023 when Michigan faced Ohio State and Washington in the national title. Entering his junior season, Johnson is being viewed as a possible top-five pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

Career stats: 57 tackles, seven TFLs, six interceptions, two touchdowns, 23 pass deflections, and one fumble recovery

Hill was definitely one of the good ones and it’s hard ranking him this low, but that’s where we’re at. Hill stayed four years at Michigan and collected some valuables. He was an All-American in 2018, a three-time All-Big Ten selection, and he finished his career at Michigan tied for sixth in all-time pass breakups.

Hill could’ve left after his junior year with teammate David Long, but he chose to stay one more season in hopes of doing something big at Michigan. The Wolverines couldn’t muster that, but Hill still had one heck of a career.

Career stats: 38 tackles, two TFLs, 0.5 sacks, three interceptions, and 14 pass deflections

David Long left after his junior season, and he was viewed as the top Michigan corner during his junior campaign. During his time at Michigan, Long was a two-time All-Big Ten selection. He played in 30 games while starting in 26 of those.

Long was a part of that great cornerback duo with Lavert Hill. The Wolverines have had quite a few of those great duos, and Long-Hill is one of the better ones.

– Enjoy more Michigan Wolverines coverage on Michigan Wolverines On SI –

Five Michigan players make Athlon Sports’ All-America team

‘He needs to be out there’: NFL Hall-of-Famer takes bold stance on JJ McCarthy

Michigan Linebackers: One thing I like, one thing I don’t, one thing to watch

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Trump-Vance 2024.

The Republican presidential ticket came together on Monday when Donald Trump named JD Vance as his running mate. In turning to the 39-year-old Ohio senator, the Republican nominee injected new energy into a campaign that has centered in recent weeks on questions of age following President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance.

The Republican National Convention opened less than 48 hours after Trump was the subject of a shocking assassination attempt in Pennsylvania. The shooting, which left Trump injured and one man dead, loomed over the convention with speakers expressing gratitude for the former president’s survival and resolved to win back the White House in November.

Here are some takeaways from the first day of the convention.

Trump made a powerful entrance

Just two days after a gunman tried to kill him, Trump walked into the convention hall with a bandage over his injured right ear as the singer Lee Greewood performed “God Bless the USA,” a regular feature of the former president’s rallies. Trump waved to the crowd and pumped his fist in the air, a regular gesture that has taken on new meaning after he made a similar motion from the stage as Secret Service agents whisked him to safety on Saturday.

The crowd stood and cheered with delight at the sight of their nominee. Trump, who is rarely left without words, made no formal comments. But the sight of him said plenty, offering a palpable reminder of the former president’s narrow miss from tragedy.

He then greeted his family before taking a seat between Vance and commentator Tucker Carlson.

The GOP’s Trump-era evolution was on full display

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell is arguably responsible for the GOP’s biggest policy accomplishments, particularly in installing conservative judges at all levels of the judiciary. But that didn’t matter much to the Trump-friendly crowd at the RNC, which greeted the Kentucky Republican with boos — a tangible rejection of someone demonized as an establishment Republican who has insufficiently supported the former president.

Just a short while later, Vance enjoyed a much different reception. The second-youngest U.S. senator — and the first millennial to appear on a major party ticket — received raucous applause when he walked onto the convention floor for the first time as Trump’s running mate.

The dueling moments offered a window into the changes that have swept the GOP under Trump — bookending an era in which McConnell has gone from one of his party’s most powerful leaders and incisive tacticians to getting jeered on the convention floor by his own party’s activists.

Stylistically, McConnell and Vance couldn’t be much more different. Vance, an outspoken MAGA warrior, is one of Trump’s chief acolytes. McConnell, meanwhile, has an understated demeanor while his political sensibilities are rooted in the GOP of Ronald Reagan.

Without McConnell, however, the 39-year-old Vance’s political rise might not have been possible.

Two years ago, Vance was struggling to raise money and up against a well-funded Democratic opponent. McConnell’s super PAC swept in with more than $30 million in advertising spending.

Vance won and began his climb to prominence. McConnell, now in the twilight of his political career, will step down as the GOP’s Senate leader in November.

Unions are the GOP’s new friend?

For decades, Democrats have been the party of labor unions, while Republicans have been outwardly hostile to them.

But on the opening night of the RNC, Trump threw the doors of the convention open to International Brotherhood of Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, who delivered the final speech of the night and singled out both major political parties for not doing enough for working people.

If it seems unusual for a president of a major labor union to address a major gathering of Republicans, that’s because it is. For decades the party has pushed anti-labor laws intended to curtail the ability of unions to organize.

But in his speech, which wasn’t always warmly received by Republicans in attendance, O’Brien said workers are being taken for granted and sold out to big banks, big tech, the corporate elite, as well as both parties in Washington.

His speech amounted to criticism of Biden, who often likes to boast that he’s “the most pro-union president in history.”

As Trump continues to scramble American politics and position himself as a champion of working people, O’Brien appeared to be making clear that Democrats shouldn’t take labor for granted.

“We are not beholden to anyone or any party,” O’Brien said.

Republicans spoke of unity — but leaned into hot-button social issues

The first night of the RNC was supposed to be about the economy, with the goal of uniting voters of all ideological persuasions who are frustrated by high prices. But some of the biggest applause lines came from harsh criticisms of transgender people.

It’s a reminder that cultural issues motivate the GOP base as much as financial ones. A trio of speakers unabashedly went after Democrats who have sought greater acceptance for transgender people. Of particular outrage to Republicans this year was Biden marking Transgender Day of Visibility. It happened to overlap with Easter in 2024, a byproduct of the Christian holiday being based off the lunar calendar.

To many in the LGBTQ+ community, it was a coincidence. But to many Republicans, it was an insult.

“They promised normalcy and gave us Transgender Visibility Day on Easter Sunday,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. “And let me state this clearly, there are only two genders.”

Other Republicans sought to make the issue a matter of fairness. Their argument was that it’s wrong to ask “girls” to compete against transgender athletes. The Biden administration proposed a rule in April that would prevent schools and colleges from enacting outright bans on transgender athletes, a rule that was quickly challenged in court.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said at the convention it was all part of a “fringe agenda” that “includes biological males competing against girls.”

Rep. John James, R-Mich., tried to equate it to part of a broader critique of Democrats, saying that they promised to offer the country hope and had failed. “Our daughters were sold on hope, and now they’re being forced on the playing fields and changing rooms with biological males,” James said.

Republicans hit Biden hard on inflation

To hear Republicans tell it, inflation had crushed the U.S. economy and it’s all Biden’s fault.

The argument is a key message for voters who may have doubts about Trump’s ethics but still trust his economic judgment. None of the speeches at the convention offered much of a detailed explanation as to why prices went up. That would require acknowledging the broken supply chains after the pandemic as well as how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushed up food and energy costs. But Biden pushed through $1.9 trillion in pandemic aid and the GOP argued that Americans have suffered as a result by paying more for groceries and gasoline.

This was all about taking the troubling inflation data and ignoring the positives in the economy such as a strong job market and solid growth as the economy has recovered.

“So many American families have to live with so much less,” said Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala. “This is too high a price to pay for an administration that has brought us to such lows.”

But how would the GOP fix inflation?

The speakers never really gave a plan, other than simply returning Trump to the White House.

— By Adriana Gomez Licon, Brian Slodysko and Josh Boak Associated Press